On Thursday, May 17, a two-day visit of the delegation of the Kaliningrad region to Croatia, the city of Zagreb, came to a close. At the invitation of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Croatia and with the assistance of the Honorary Consul of Croatia in Kaliningrad Stefano Vlahovic, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Shenderuk-Zhidkov, Minister of Culture and Tourism Andrei Ermak, Minister-Head of the Agency for International and Interregional Relations Alla Ivanova, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Kaliningrad Region Felix Lapin took part in the visit to the Balkan country. The Kaliningrad Region Development Corporation was represented by the Director General Vladimir Zarudny.
During the meeting in the Economic Chamber of Croatia, a presentation of the economic potential of the Kaliningrad region was held, tourism opportunities of Kaliningrad, as host city for the World Cup, were presented. "Thanks to the football holiday, many Croatians will visit the capital of the westernmost region of Russia for the first time, get acquainted with its cultural traditions and sights. In turn, Kaliningraders love visiting the resort towns of Croatia: Dubrovnik, Split, Mljet, Hvar. Tourism, agriculture and food production are the main directions of the Croatian economy. After the country's accession to the EU, development conditions for these sectors have become less profitable. Croatia has to compete for the same Asian tourist, local talented youth, markets with Italy, France, and Germany. Therefore it is important to use new technologies, opportunities, including Russian regions with similar cultural values. Production projects, investment initiatives in the field of agriculture, localized in the Kaliningrad region, could work to strengthen the economies of both countries. Our logistics capabilities, land resources, industrial sites, provided with the entire necessary engineering infrastructure, energy, could be an excellent option for capacity building by Croatian producers. Cooperation with development institutions, such as the Development Corporation, could reduce the costs at the start of the implementation of investment projects to a minimum", - Vladimir Zarudny said.
According to him, many representatives of government agencies and Croatia's private business attending the meeting were interested in the work experience of the Development Corporation. "That same forum "Kaliningrad.Fashion" is an attempt not only to follow the trends of the technological revolution 4.0, but also the desire to use and predetermine them when creating new niches for the regional economy. Niches, which could be interesting to modern youth and participants of creative industries. Another approach is active work with Asian markets. This is a different scale of production and necessary resources, sites. We need to think about this right now. Kaliningrad region and Croatia need to make the maximum use of cooperation opportunities for the entrance to the new markets of the same China and South Korea. Here we need to search for a secret formula that will help make this export breakthrough and ensure the prosperity of the national economies of both countries. I am sure that such relations help strengthen cooperation, both humanitarian and economic", - Vladimir Zarudny emphasised.
It should be noted that the completion of the business mission was the signing of an agreement on cooperation between the Kaliningrad Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Croatian Chamber of Commerce.